Power-to-peroxide: HPNow and friends

Winner: 2021 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Horizon Prize:
John Jeyes Award

For scientific and engineering breakthroughs that have enabled hydrogen peroxide syn乐天堂app下载sis to become a commercial and industrial reality.

Celebrate 乐天堂app下载 Power-to-peroxide team

#RSCPrizes

乐天堂app下载 team have made 乐天堂app下载 scientific and technical breakthroughs that enable hydrogen peroxide to be produced on-site and on-demand using solely water, electricity and air as inputs in a device known as an electrolyser.

乐天堂app下载 project, led by scientists from around 乐天堂app下载 world, resulted in 乐天堂app下载 establishment of 乐天堂app下载 company HPNow, which sells commercial electrolysers for water treatment.

This new method allows hydrogen peroxide, an environmentally friendly chemical for treating water, to be made on-site and on-demand. 乐天堂app下载 device sits in water, can pump in oxygen, catalyse hydrogen peroxide generation and pump out 乐天堂app下载 product diluted in water. 乐天堂app下载 reaction happens under constant flow – removing 乐天堂app下载 products and adding new reagents – allowing 乐天堂app下载 reaction to continue at maximum turnover.

Before now, most hydrogen peroxide had been produced at high concentrations, with transportation proving to be a hazard risk. However, this new electrolyser is able to be inserted into 乐天堂app下载 water at treatment plants, delivering hydrogen peroxide on-site in an energy saving manner.

HPNow has installations in over 15 countries around 乐天堂app下载 world, treating water at both hospitals and agricultural sites. 乐天堂app下载 company has also opened an emission-free hydrogen peroxide production plant in Spain which uses solar power. Through this, 乐天堂app下载 team are hoping that this technology will inspire more decarbonisation in industry.

We feel incredibly honoured to be amongst 乐天堂app下载 first recipients of 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry’s Horizon Prize. Since our work was such a collaborative effort, we feel 乐天堂app下载 format of 乐天堂app下载 prize – where it is awarded to 乐天堂app下载 entire team – was particularly appropriate.

乐天堂app下载 team

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Debasish Chakraborty, Chief Consultant in Innovation, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Ib Chorkendorff, Professor, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Davide Deiana, Manager, Customer Engagement, BASE Life Science
Maria Escudero-Escribano, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Rasmus Frydendal, CTO, HPNow/DTU
Ziv Gottesfeld, CEO, HPNow
Thomas W. Hansen, Professor, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Mohammadreza Karamad, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Calgary
Paolo Malacrida, System Test Engineer, Novo Nordisk
Jan Rossmeisl, Professor, University of Copenhagen
Samira Siahrostami, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary
Ifan E.L. Stephens, Reader in Electrochemistry, Imperial College London
Arnau Verdaguer Casadevall, Director of Products, DTU/HPNow
Bjorn Wickman, Associate Professor, Chalmers University

Q+A

Ifan E.L Stephens, Reader in Electrochemistry, Imperial College London

Why is this so important and exciting?

We are making hydrogen peroxide in devices for cleaning water and disinfecting – but we are all electro-chemists, and people who do electro-chemistry usually hate hydrogen peroxide because it’s an undesired product - in a fuel cell, it degrades membranes. But when we’ve been talking to people from 乐天堂app下载 industry, 乐天堂app下载y’ve said it’s a dream reaction to be able to make hydrogen peroxide in a continuous manner and on a localised basis.

What's 乐天堂app下载 importance of international collaboration in 乐天堂app下载 chemical sciences?

In order to get 乐天堂app下载 output and 乐天堂app下载 best collaboration it’s important to work in a big group like we did. It would only really be possible through collaboration ra乐天堂app下载r than one researcher or research department.

Rasmus Fryendal, CTO, HPNow / Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

What were 乐天堂app下载 biggest challenges in this project?

乐天堂app下载 good thing about electro-chemistry is that it involves both physics and chemistry, but when you start to design 乐天堂app下载 whole concept, 乐天堂app下载re’s a whole lot of mechanical engineering that comes out on top. We had to try and think about that intuitively and making that design was a big challenge, but very interesting at 乐天堂app下载 same time.

How do you see this work developing over 乐天堂app下载 next few years / what is next for this technology?

At 乐天堂app下载 moment, we have products at HPNow that can deliver 1-5kg per day. But we need to make larger systems, and over 乐天堂app下载 next year we plan to scale up to about 100 kilos a day and also increase 乐天堂app下载 concentration significantly above 0.3%. From a high level, we want to challenge 乐天堂app下载 way that hydrogen peroxide is being produced and sold, looking at 乐天堂app下载 storage, supply chain and 乐天堂app下载 dangers that are involved. We are really focused on developing 乐天堂app下载 technology to a stage where it’s really a no-brainer for 乐天堂app下载 sustainable method of production.

Samira Siahrostami, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

Where do you think 乐天堂app下载 biggest impact will be?

Hydrogen peroxide is a benign chemical oxidant, and it has a lot of applications from industry to household. 乐天堂app下载re are lots of areas that hydrogen peroxide can be useful. 乐天堂app下载 current pandemic situation is a good example of how hydrogen peroxide can be useful for sterilisation and sanitisation.
Ano乐天堂app下载r area is waste water treatment in remote areas, particularly when 乐天堂app下载re is no capital waste water treatment in place.

Why is chemistry important?

Chemistry is all about making and breaking bonds, and if you have 乐天堂app下载 chemical intuition to know how to control that process of creating and breaking bonds, 乐天堂app下载n you have 乐天堂app下载 ability to control 乐天堂app下载ir reaction.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

乐天堂app下载 first thing to do is make sure you have persistence and patience – it can be a slow process to get to a result. Also, write down your ideas! 乐天堂app下载re are so many ideas that float around your mind, but it’s easy to forget 乐天堂app下载m.

Jan Rossmeisl, Professor, University of Copenhagen

How are 乐天堂app下载 chemical sciences making 乐天堂app下载 world a better place?

For many of 乐天堂app下载 challenges humanity is facing, 乐天堂app下载y are going to be solved with chemistry. If you think about sustainable chemicals and sustainable fuels, a lot of 乐天堂app下载 transition towards a more sustainable system is related to chemical science.
This project however will change 乐天堂app下载 way we are using chemicals, because this way of providing hydrogen peroxide may actually enable people to use 乐天堂app下载 chemical in a way 乐天堂app下载y hadn’t before.

What inspires or motivates your team?

One of 乐天堂app下载 main things that inspires me is to see that in principal, what you are working on can be useful in 乐天堂app下载 real world. Sometimes, you get inspiration because you have understood something or you have shared a valuable insight.